Buying The Tools of the Trade

Traditionally during the winter time, farmers and ranchers will repair their equipment during what is otherwise a nonproductive time of the year.  Equipment is inventoried, inspected and repaired, so too are the fences.  The majority of us not being farmers don’t have the luxury of such seasons, since we live in a 24-7-365 work cycle. But it doesn’t mean that we don’t have to inventory our equipment, repair what needs to be repaired and replace what needs to be replaced. This can happen at any time of the year.

The question is, when it comes time to purchase new or used equipment where is the best place to go? And how do I know if I’m getting a good deal for what I’m purchasing? Although I can’t speak for all businesses and churches, being in the communication business, I can speak about the best websites that I’ve come across that consistently have the best prices on video equipment, computer components and a variety of cabling. Especially since this past year I was involved in a project during which I purchased $115,000+tax worth of equipment and software to outfit a new church production facility with video/projection and presentation equipment.

For some of the purchases we did use facilitators who would shop out what we needed for vendors. The one thing I learned from this is to challenge the mark up’s the facilitators charge. They do earn their money for the grief they have to receive from the customer and the vendors, but they don’t have to markup an item 50%. Also I learned that some vendor’s will outright lie to you and misrepresent when they can get equipment to you. A lot of the equipment I purchased direct from online companies and I received excellent deals. I want to share them with you. But first, let me tell you the steps I take to determine what equipment to purchase and whom to purchase it from. 

Step 1: Determine your needs and wants. What equipment do you need that is going to help you communicate creatively? What is going to help you sell your product or get your message across in a cost effective manner. In order to determine this I looked at what we were doing with what we had. I made a list of what I thought would help us do it better. I then looked at other similar or larger organizations that were successful at what they were doing and what they were using. If that was the direction I wanted to go, I would even call them and ask them for advice, or what companies they used. I also looked at trade shows and trends to see if there was a new piece of equipment that would be ready when it came time for me to make my purchases.

Step 2: Set a budget (Realistically). I learned a lot from the first big project I was responsible for. If I knew then, what I know now, I would have set my budget differently. That’s the downside of working for a large organization that someone who owns their business doesn’t have to face. I would have asked for a bigger slice of the pie for my first big project. My lead supervisor came up to me one day and asked if I could do what needed to be done for $50K. Not being sure I doubled that number and said, I’ll need $100k. So that became my budget. I should have said $150k, because never having made such large purchases; I underestimated what it would take to meet the vision the organization had. Eventually my budget was increased to $115k plus tax and my team was able to complete our project, but it made for a very stressful process and we had to cut some corners which I know will come back to bite the organization in the future. Such are the realities of expansion and building programs.

Step 3: Match your needs/wants with your budget and go price shopping. I priced shopped whatever I could. Even when my facilitator brought me his recommendations, I would do my own searches and see if I could beat what he found. One thing to remember is that the cheapest price isn’t always the best price. One has to consider quality of the equipment and if a company will stand behind and support their equipment.

For the items I purchased directly myself, I would do a search on Google. Input the item and compare prices/customer support and warranties. I would generally compare 3-4 online vendors. If the prices were the same I considered availability of items.

Here are a list of websites and companies that I found provided the equipment I needed with the best price and were able to consistently ship my items on time, when I needed them. (Another note, give yourself more lead time and you will save on shipping costs.)

Video related equipment: bhphotovideo.com Not only do they sell new and beat anybody’s prices, but they also have a used store and will even warranty some of the things there.  

Video Tools of the Trade: Filmtools.com  

Flat Screen Televisions: Costco.com or the local Costco. As a business or non-profit, it just makes good business sense. If you don't have a Costco by you then go to a Sams Club

Cabling – monoprice.com Cat5, power strips, rgb, hdmi, you name it and what length cable you need. I never knew you could buy cabling so cheap. Their prices beat Costco and Best Buy by a mile, 2 miles. And after you purchase a certain amount, they give you bulk discounts.

Computers – videoguys.com To spec out a video production work station and for sound advice on how to tweak your video/OS software settings.

newegg.com When you are building your own computer and need to purchases the individual components.  

Local computer company. If you don’t have the time or knowledge to build your own specialized computer, then have one built for you, find a local computer company in your town, that will provide support and have them build it for you.

costco.com or local Costco. For a computer to handle basic business needs (IE. Word processing, spreadsheets, etc.)

Software - Again go to your search engine and do comparison shopping. Many software companies will even let you try out their products for 30 days to see if it meets your needs. Adobe is one of them. If you are a non profit then request a list of nonprofit vendors from  Adobe for your area or follow the student/educator's link on their website, you will be able to purchase software that is greatly discounted.

Of course nothing beats free and if your business is just starting out, or if you have a nonprofit on a tight budget don’t overlook taking advantage of the free software that’s out there on the internet (See filehippo.com), or ask if someone would be willing to donate an item you need. You’ll be surprised what you can obtain.

And don’t forget government auction sites. http://www.govliquidation.com/  If the government uses it, they auction it. You can even sign up for specific categories of items you need and they will send you an email alert. Of course don’t over look big industry auctions in your area. Where I live, Boeing operates an auction website for equipment that they no longer need, or meets their requirements.

Remember never remain static about the sites you purchase from. While I have my favorites, I always do a Google, Bing or whatever your favorite search engine is, to start with, as there are always hungry new start ups willing to offer price breaks to start business going their way. 

I hope this has been helpful to you. If you have some favorite websites send them my way and I’ll post them as well.